After three months on the road Handy needs a fishing fix and hires two native Blackfeet fishing guides for a rainbow trout trip on the Blackfeet Reservation near Glacier National Park, St. Mary, Montana.

Friend Guy Winkleman of Palatka fished with these outfitters a week earlier and caught seven rainbows up to 12 pounds. It was his successful trip that created the sudden desire to go fishing; particularly since my limited rainbow experience has been in stocked North Carolina fish ponds where the fish were scrawny and barely larger than my hand.

Since we are somewhat inexperienced fly rod fishermen (that’s an understatement) it was necessary to fish in separate boats to keep from hooking each other and the guide. And, need I mention, the wind was blowing between 20 and 25 miles per hour?

Our guides Mark and David with Cut Bank Outfitters are native Blackfeet and take us about 40 miles into the Reservation to a seldom fished lake that is stocked annually with rainbow trout. The lake is surrounded by fields of native prairie grass between waist and chest tall that is waving like a giant flag in the winds. In fact, the wind was blowing so hard that we closed the two slide-out extensions on the RV to prevent damage to the canvas coverings before leaving the KOA.

With fishing equipment which traveling partner Martha described as “needy,” the guides launch their small aluminum boats from the ramp-less shoreline, and we motor to the far end of the lake to take advantage of the small wind break created by prairie grass. The landscape here is best described as flat as a pancake and treeless. The mountains are about 40 miles to the west but still visible in the distance. There is no place to fish to avoid the wind.

Our guides load-up the fly rod and throw the flies directly into the face of the strengthening winds. The fly travels maybe six or eight feet off the water and about 75 feet in length.

The “equipment in need” Martha mentioned earlier probably was directed to the fist-sized hole in the cowling of the small hand-cranked outboard motor that was powering the boat in which I was riding. I had not noticed this minor equipment misfortune until the guide started bailing water from the rear of the boat. It was just a minor leak, he said. The hole in the cowling was caused when a piston exploded, he added.

The wind is blowing so hard that our boat is drifting across the lake,

That is not a problem in Martha’s boat because her guide lost an anchor on a recent trip and was using a 100-pound fly-wheel from an old truck as a replacement. Living in rural northwest Montana, it's not a matter of driving down the street for replacement parts. Anglers here drive almost 100 miles to reach a fully-stocked sporting goods store for gear.

Equipment issues aside, these guides are good fishermen and that’s what counts. I hooked a rainbow that prompted the guide to pull the anchor while I hung on to the rod and the fish stripped line off the reel. The fish circled the boat a couple times and stripped off more line before I finally got him under control and into the guide’s landing net. The fish weighed eight pounds and went straight to the cooler. We had agreed on taking one fish for dinner and releasing the rest. This was the largest rainbow I had ever seen.

A break from the action gave us a chance to eat a very tasty lunch provided by the guides then stretch our legs a bit on shore before heading back onto the lake and into the wind which seemed to be blowing harder.

Shortly after getting lines back in the water, another large rainbow grabbed my fly and headed for the center of the lake with a 25 to 30 mile tail wind. The fish peeled line off the reel as if the drag didn’t exist. I’m watching as the line runs out, leaving only the backing on the reel. The guide said to put a little pressure on the reel in hopes of slowing the fish. Pow! The line broke.

There was no stopping that fish.

The guide said they had caught rainbows to 16 pounds and believed there were some in the lake even larger.

In the meantime, over in Martha’s boat, she’s learning how the Blackfeet cold smoke wild meat—moose, elk and buffalo; learned some of the Blackfeet culture and the social and unemployment issues prevalent on the Reservation.

Heading back to St. Mary, winds worsened and blew three fly rods out the back of the guide’s pickup truck and onto the highway. Not the way we wanted to end the day.

The two guides from Cut Bank Outfitters were born and raised in this country and very knowledgeable hunters and fishermen and offer a variety of services to outdoorsmen wanting to fish and hunt the remote areas around Glacier National Park.

(St. Augustine residents Martha and Ronnie Hughes, recently retired, have bought a motorhome and are headed on their first long trip across country. They have no set travel agenda except to take life on the road, one day at a time. They expect to be gone for six months and will post periodic updates along the way.)

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We live in St Augustine and have a bait spot that we get our mud minnows. This morning we put out our bait trap and went back a couple of hours later and it was vandalized for the first time. Someone had cut the rope, taken the bait and threw the trap.
Is it the sign of the times or just plain disrespect?
Atleast they did not ruin our small bait trap. If they wanted the bait fine but to do damage is another.